1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to dump truck vehicles, and more particularly, to a kit for converting a lightweight dump truck to a sand-salt spreader.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Dump trucks which have a side dump body portion hinged longitudinally of the dump truck adjacent a conveyor have become increasingly popular. Such sand and salt spreaders are described, for instance, in Canadian Pat. No. 1,238,070, issued Jun. 14, 1988 to Lawrence W. Perry et al, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,995,773, issued Feb. 26, 1991 to Guy Lamoureux et al. This type of dump truck construction is well suited to larger trucks with a specially built dump body. The dump body can be used alternatively as a conventional dump truck or as a sand and salt spreader. In the former configuration, the conveyor is covered with a metal plate which is hinged next to the conveyor on the opposite side to the sand dump portion.
In the light of the particular construction of the dump body described in the above patents, there is a limit to the down-sizing of the dump body construction that can be designed into a relatively small dump truck. For instance, it is difficult to design dump trucks in the order of 1.5 tons or less with such features since the segmented side wall would be quite weak as would the separate sub-frames.
A truck of the type to which the present invention might be directed is typically used for hauling sand or snow and is of the type which would be used by a shopping mall, parking lot, school, or other uses where a large dump truck is not required, and preferably a light truck just slightly greater than a typical pickup truck would be suitable. It is of great advantage that the lightweight dump truck be a multi-purpose vehicle and that it be equipped with a removable salt spreader conversion kit which includes a second dump body which is insertable into the first dump body.